a.Their blessed unity was broken by what appears to be bias on the part of the
native Jews.
(i)In the daily serving of food, the Greek-speaking widows were being

entirely neglected.

(ii)Not only would this hurt them, it would cause ill-will on the part of the

Hellenistic Jews.

b.This was an important matter.
(i)It couldn\u2019t be overlooked.
(ii)But neither could the ministry of the Word and prayer.

2.So the apostles called the congregation together and gave them the solution:

a.They were to choose seven men.
(i)Not just any men:Men full of the Spirit and wisdom.
(ii)Mature men, with a good reputation, who would deal with this matter

faithfully.

b.They were to bring these men to the apostles:
(i)Who would examine them.
(ii)And then lay hands on them, ordaining them to this new office of deacon

(service).

c.In this way, two very important things would be accomplished:
(i)The widows would be cared for.
(ii)And the apostles would be freed up enabling them to minister to the

needs of the congregation, as well as the needs of those in darkness.

3.And so they found the men and brought them to the apostles:

a.All seven of them were Hellenistic Jews.
(i)They would be more sensitive to the needs of their widows.
(ii)They would also be sensitive that the same thing didn\u2019t happen to the

native widows.

(iii)Or it may be that they were put specifically in charge of the Hellenistic

widows, while the nature Jews took care of their own.

b.And their ministry had a happy effect:it advanced the Gospel.
(i)The Word of God kept on spreading.
(ii)The number of disciples continued to increase.

2

(iii)Even many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

B. Preview.

1.But again, with the kingdom of light advancing, the kingdom of darkness struck
back.
a.As the Lord continued to bless the church, He raised up Stephen as a

powerful witness.

b.His testimony was so powerful, many Jews from the surrounding areas

decided to argue against him.

c.When they saw they couldn\u2019t overcome the Spirit of wisdom with which he

was speaking, they resorted to evil tactics to silence him.

d.And as they did, Stephen began to go down the path by which the Lord chose

to honor Him:He would be the very first martyr of the church.

2.This morning, we\u2019re going to consider what the Lord did through Stephen, that
led to his arrest and eventual martyrdom:We\u2019ll look at three things:
a.First, the signs and wonders God worked through Stephen.
b.Second, the Spirit of wisdom He gave Stephen.
c.Finally, the testimony God bore regarding Stephen in the face of his accusers.
d.As we look at this account, let\u2019s remember that the greatest honor that the

Lord can bestow on any man, woman or child is to die for the sake of the One

who died for them.

e.This was not a curse for Stephen, but a great blessing.

II. Sermon.

A.First, let\u2019s consider the signs and wonders God worked through Stephen and how

they drew the attention of the enemy to him.

1.Stephen began as a deacon, overseeing the diaconal needs of the Hellenistic
widows; but now we see him ministering the Gospel with power.\u201cAnd
Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs
among the people.\u201d
a.Stephen apparently had the gifts to go beyond his original calling:

(i)He didn\u2019t grumble at his humble position, but did his best to fulfill his

calling.

(ii)And as he proved to be faithful in little, the Lord entrusted him with

more.

(iii)The Spirit of God works humility in us, empties us of self that we might
follow in the footsteps of our Lord, who said that to achieve greatness in
His kingdom, we must become the servant of all.

(iv)Sometimes the reason why we are not used by the Lord more than we

are is that we refuse to begin where He wants us to begin.

(v)If we humble ourselves to the point where no task for Him is too menial,

then we\u2019re in the place where He can use us.

b.Stephen began by humbling himself and now the Lord was using him more

powerfully to perform signs and wonders.

3

(i)Luke writes that he was full of grace and power.
(ii)He had a strong faith, was doing great things.
(iii)Since these signs were never done as an end in themselves, he must also

have been bearing witness to the truth.

2.Stephen\u2019s witness must have been very powerful because he attracted the
attention of some very dangerous Jews:\u201cBut some men from what was called
the Synagogue of the Freedmen,i ncl udi ng both Cyrenians and Alexandrians,
and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen\u201d (v. 9).
a.These men were also Hellenistic Jews, zealous for their own religion.

(i)Some were from the synagogue of the Freedmen:
(a)They were either naturalized foreigners.
(b)Slaves by birth who had been freed.
(c)Or freeborn Jews, like the apostle Paul (22:27).
(d)Some believe Paul was a part of this synagogue, perhaps its most

prominent member.

(e)Remember, he was present at Stephen\u2019s stoning, so he may likely have

taken part in this disputation as well.

(ii)Others were from the synagogue of Cyrenians and Alexandrians, some
from Cilicia and Asia:If Paul didn\u2019t belong to the Freedmen, he belonged
to that of Cilicia, for that is where Tarsus was.

(iii)Each county had its synagogue where the Jews educated their youth.

(iv)Seeing that the Gospel would affect their religion, they had come to
Jerusalem to put a stop to it, first by debate, but then by other measures if
necessary.

b.But why did they choose Stephen to debate?

(i)Some believe they thought the apostles beneath their dignity, being

fishermen, while Stephen was a scholar.

(ii)Others that they were intimidated by the apostles office, but not a lesser

officer.

(iii)Perhaps there had been a public challenge and Stephen was chosen to
defend Christianity (perhaps the apostles didn\u2019t want to leave their
ministry to deal with controversy).

(iv)Some say Stephen was trained by Gamaliel, and Paul considered him a

traitor:and this is why they targeted him.

(v)We can at least say that they debated with Stephen because he was highly
visible \u2013 from his ministry \u2013 and because he was zealous himself to
convince them of the truth.A light shining in the darkness will always

draw the attention of the darkness.

(vi)Every Christian has the desire to shine the light of Christ, though we

don\u2019t all have the same gifts to do so.

B.Having drawn the attention of the enemy, the Lord gave Stephen the wisdom to